Multiplication
Multiplication Calculation Policy
Age 9 expected (Y4)
Age 10 expected (Y5)
Mental Strategies
Children should continue to count regularly, on and back,
now including multiples of 6, 7, 9, 25 and 1000, and steps
of 1 and 100.
Become fluent and confident to recall all tables to x 12
Use the context of a week and a calendar to support the 7
times table (e.g. how many days in 5 weeks?)
Use of finger strategy for 9 times table.
Mental Strategies
Children should continue to count regularly, on and back, now
including steps of powers of 10.
X by 10, 100, 1000, including decimals (Moving Digits ITP)
The number line should continue to be used as an important
image to support thinking, and the use of informal jottings
should be encouraged.
They should be encouraged to choose from a range of
strategies to solve problems mentally:
Partitioning using x10, x20 etc.
Doubling to solve x2, x4, x8
Recall of times tables
Use of commutativity of multiplication
If children know the times table facts to 12 x 12. Can they use
this to recite other times tables (e.g. the 13 times tables or the
24 times table)
Mental Strategies
Consolidate previous years.
Written Methods
Introducing column multiplication
‘carry’
Written Methods
The number line should continue to be used as an
important image to support thinking, and the use of
informal jottings should be encouraged.
They should be encouraged to choose from a range of
strategies:
Partitioning using x10, x20 etc.
Doubling to solve x2, x4, x8
Recall of times tables
Use of commutativity of multiplication
Written Methods
Multiply 2 and 3 digits by a single digit using all multiplication
tables up to 12 x 12
Introduce column multiplication
by comparing agrid method calculation, in order to see how the
steps are related. Notice how there are less steps involved
Children should experiment with order of operations,
investigating the effect of positioning the brackets in
different places, e.g. 20 – 5 x 3 = 5; (20 – 5) x 3 = 45
They should be encouraged to choose from a range of
strategies to solve problems mentally:
Partitioning using x10, x20 etc.
Doubling to solve x2, x4, x8
Recall of times tables
Use of commutativity of multiplication
If children know the times table facts to 12 x 12. Can they
use this to recite other times tables (e.g. the 13 times tables
or the 24 times table)
Short and long multiplication, as in year 5, and multiply decimals,
with up to 2 decimal places by a single digit.
Remind children that
the single digit belongs
in the units column
Introduce long multiplication for multiplying by 2 digits
Line up the decimal
points in the question
and the answer
18 x 3 on the first row
(8 x 3 =24, carrying the 2 for 20, then 1 x 3)
Children should:
Use rounding and place value to make approximations before
calculating and use these to check validity of answers
Use short multiplication to (see Y5) to multiply numbers with more
than 4 digits by a single digit; to multiply money and measures; and
to multiply decimals up to 2 decimal places by a single digit
Use long multiplication (see Y5) to multiply numbers with at least 4
digits by a 2-digit number
Move onto short multiplication (see Y5) if and when children are
confident and accurate multiplying 2 and 3 digit numbers by a
single digit this way and are already confident in carrying for
written addition.
Children should be able to:
Approximate before they calculate and make this a regular part
of their calculating, going back to their approximation to consider
the reasonableness of their answer
Age 11 expected (Y6)
Multiplication Policy Supplementary Information Years 4 - 6
Record an approximation to check their answer against
Multiply multiples of 10 and 100by a single digit, using smile
multiplication
Recall all times tables up to 12 x 12
18 x 10 on the 2nd row. Show multiplying by 10 by
putting zero in units first.
Vocabulary
Move towards more complex numbers
multiply, count, multiplied by, repeated addition, column, row, sets
of, equal groups, times as big as, once, twice, three times…,
partition, grid method, multiple, product, tens, units, value, inverse,
square, factor, integer, decimal, short/long multiplication,
‘carry’, tenths, hundredths, decimal
Children should approximate first
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Factor groups of, lots of, times, array, altogether,
multiply, count, multiplied by, repeated addition, column, row,
sets of, equal groups, times as big as, once, twice, three times…,
partition, grid method, multiple, product, tens, units, value,
inverse
cube numbers prime numbers square numbers
common factors prime number, prime factors composite
numbers groups of, lots of, times, array, altogether, multiply, count,
Generalisations
Children given the opportunity to investigate numbers
multiplied by 1 and 0.
When they know multiplication facts up to x12, do they
know what x13 is? (i.e. can they use 4x12 to work out 4x13
and 4x14 and beyond?)
Key Questions
What do you notice?
What’s the same? What’s different?
Can you convince me?
How do you know?
multiplied by, repeated addition, column, row, sets of, equal groups,
times as big as, once, twice, three times…, partition, grid method,
multiple, product, tens, units, value, inverse, square, factor, integer,
decimal, short/long multiplication,
‘carry’
Generalisation
Relating arrays to an understanding of square numbers and
making cubes to show cube numbers.
Understanding that the use of scaling by multiples of 10 can be
used to convert between units of measure (e.g. metres to
kilometres means to times by 1000)
Key Questions
What do you notice?
What’s the same? What’s different?
Can you convince me?
How do you know?
How do you know this is a prime number?
Multiplication Policy Supplementary Information Years 4 - 6
See previous years
common factor groups of, lots of, times, array, altogether,
Generalisations
Order of operations: brackets first, then multiplication and
division (left to right) before addition and subtraction (left to
right). Children could learn an acrostic such as PEMDAS, or
could be encouraged to design their own ways of
remembering.
Understanding the use of multiplication to support
conversions between units of measurement.
Key Questions
What do you notice?
What’s the same? What’s different?
Can you convince me?
How do you know?